Sunday, June 12, 2016

Con-Man: The Return of Power-Con

Last Saturday marked the return of Power-Con, the fan run He-Man and She-Ra gathering down in Torrance. After a few solid years, PC looked to expand the show by moving it to New York but logistical issues sadly stopped it from happening. After a brief sabbatical, the team is back and strong as ever this year. Held at the Redondo Beach Marriott across from the Del Amo Fashion Center, Power-Con takes over a wing of the joint with a modest but packed exhibitor room and another space for panels. Walking in the energy was great, lots of people hanging out by the bar and cafe, then outside the main hall as well. Inside there were vendors of all kinds slinging toys, promotional items, artwork, custom figures and more. A few cosplayers had tables as well as toy makers The Four Horsemen but surprisingly, no Mattel on hand with their terrific toy displays, cut outs and 15' He-Man statue.

Since I put together a He-Man event last September in Power-Con's absence, it was nice to see several people from the community and chit chat. The guys from Cape and Cowl were on hand along with several vendors who have become con-rades since we see them so often. I was surprised and happy that the hall was pretty crowded with each booth a little hard to get in and look around. Besides the multitude of toys you had as a kid from Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Thundercats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I was taken and impressed by the amount of custom figures on display. One in particular of He-Man as a Ghostbuster made me laugh but my photo didn't turn out...One booth had an array of great buttons and pins from the 70's Lord of the Rings animated film along with some Asterix! You know, the French comic about magic potion enhanced warriors from Gaul? I snatched up a pin featuring Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix and was very tempted to pick up a Blade or Gwildor figure but alas didn't pull the trigger. Each year of Power-Con has been a little different, one added Ninja Turtles programming, one had Thundercats, this year's programming was totally He-Man and She-Ra focused though, covering voice acting, design, Mattel, mini-comics, origins, podcasts and whatnot. Sadly there was no panel on the classic 1987 flick!

We popped into the packed panel room for the voice actors showcase where Alan Oppenheimer, Melendy Britt, Gage Khouth and Brian Dobson held hilarious court. Talking about how they got into the industry, Skeletor himself Oppenheimer chimed in that he was doing impressions of people at a young age and it just kind of went from there. Another thing that impressed me about Power-Con was that they had more or less back to back programming all day so if you're a hardcore fan and were staying all day, you'd have something to check out from 10:30 AM through 1:00 AM. Next year I'll definitely have to stick around and embrace the Eternian shenanigans.

Ready for some late lunch we hopped over to the currently under renovation Del Amo Fashion Center that was one part shiny upscale shopping center, one part 80's mall with random stores and all totally confusing layout. We did however run into a random shop filled with old movies, video games, appliances and books. Kind of like an eBay store only you know, in real life. I picked up several bad movies on the cheap like Battlefield Earth, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and the Director's Cut of Spawn.

It was a fantastic day, welcome back Power-Con, can't wait to see what you have in store next year!